Tackling a toxic work environment

Toxicity in any walk of life is wholly negative, with effects that straddle wellbeing, safety and happiness. When it occurs in the workplace, where most people spend their waking hours, power imbalances can exacerbate the situation.

The mental health support organisation, Calm, describes toxic relationships as those that ‘undermine one’s sense of wellbeing, happiness, and, at times, safety’, adding that while occasional disagreements or conflicts are normal in any relationship, a continual pattern of emotional harm, disrespect, and manipulation can lead to deterioration in mental and emotional health.

The problem is staggeringly widespread in professional settings, with one-quarter of employees suffering from having to contend with a toxic work environment, according to the McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) on employee burnout. MHI noted that some people will suffer in silence, others lash out and a number simply leave. Echoing these findings, MIT Sloan found that workers were 10.4 times more likely to leave their jobs because of a toxic workplace than because of compensation.

Senior leaders must tackle toxicity – or pay the price

Failure to tackle a toxic work environment is not an option for senior leaders who want productive and cohesive teams. While an element of stress can be beneficial to performance, the National Institutes for Health found that elevated stress levels can impede performance on tasks that require divided attention, working memory, retrieval of information.

And, Forbes notes that an unhealthy work culture negatively affects employee productivity and wellbeing, describing toxicity as when individuals feel extreme tension in the office, avoid speaking up for fear of retribution – a lack of psychological safety – or find they are excluded from meetings for no reason.

The other reason for leaders to take a toxic work environment seriously is the high cost of letting it fester. It doesn’t simply end with people leaving when they are approaching burnout or are indeed burnt out. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) commissioned research on toxic workplace cultures and what happens to the employees who work in them, discovering that 58% of employees who quit a job due to workplace culture say that their managers are the main reason they ultimately left. The cost of this was $223 billion in the past five years.

It’s important to note that more than one-third (36%) said their manager didn’t know how to lead a team, and that, coupled with the fact that that 76% said their manager sets the tone of the workplace is clearly problematic.

What does a toxic workplace look like?

Harvard Business Review cites MIT’s study, whereby researchers scoured more than 1.3 million Glassdoor reviews and identified five signs of toxic work cultures – they are disrespectful, non-inclusive, unethical, cut-throat, and abusive.

There are several typical signs that point to a toxic environment in the workplace:

• disengagement
• negativity
• lack of enthusiasm

Shockingly, Gallup found that, at the time of its survey in 2021, only 36% of US employees were engaged in their work and workplace. And, globally, a mere 20% of employees were reportedly engaged at work.

Toxic workplaces often suffer poor communication, whereby there is passive-aggressiveness, inadequate communication, conflict, a lack of clarity as to who to ask about work matters. People end up walking on eggshells and become defensive and lose motivation, resulting in increased stress levels and poor health – and a high turnover.

How can senior leaders ensure their workplace is not toxic?

Senior leaders need to ensure that the workplace is psychologically safe – when this is achieved, people will feel free to speak up and to be themselves, and can be innovative with a freedom to fail, where getting things wrong is accepted on the path to progress.

When psychological safety is absent, negativity and stagnancy will prevail – and productivity and progress will be slow, if at all present. And, churn will be high, which is expensive and reputationally damaging.

10 ways to help eradicate toxicity:

• Prioritise psychological safety
• Carry out regular, anonymous surveys that are acted upon, with comments replied to and acknowledged by senior leaders
• Work with employees to understand their challenges
• Understand the legalities relating to bullying and harassment
• Provide positive feedback and rewards for successes
• Talk to people as though they are humans, not cogs in a wheel
• Encourage people to enjoy their work and have fun
• Work towards a growth culture
• Listen to people with an open mind
• Avoid blame

If you would like to explore toxic workplaces in more detail, join our webinar, Recognising toxic behaviours in the workplace